durban poison
Apr 3, 2019 14:34:22 GMT -5
Post by The Mason on Apr 3, 2019 14:34:22 GMT -5
it’s okay if you don’t really want to know
February 28, 2019
Tijuana, Mexico
Sadie sat in the same spot she’d been in twenty-four hours earlier. She didn’t have the luxury of a blacked-out Ford Ranger with tinted windows to hide her from the world this time. Instead, it was a gray, dented, years-old Nissan Versa that she’d paid twelve American dollars to rent for the day. Not ideal. But it would do.
She leaned back, allowing the cool, artificial breeze from the air conditioning to wash over her, counteracting the unforgiving sun that beat down against the windshield.
Ninety minutes had passed. She’d spent the first half of it dividing her time between watching Netflix on the tablet she had propped up against the steering wheel of the car and gazing curiously at the parking lot and sidewalks leading to the cafe-- until becoming paranoid, realizing that the distraction could cost her.
So with the tablet tossed onto the passenger seat, she turned on the radio, humming along to the tejano songs that the only clear station for miles seemed to pride itself on… until she realized with each passing minute that she risked being lulled to sleep by the delicate tunes. Off the radio went.
She pulled her hand up into the visor, feeling for it… feeling for it… feeli-- found it. A hand-rolled joint of what Marc Argueta had stated was “durban poison”. By methods just short of magic, Sadie had secured its travel from the States to the shady cafe parking lot in Tijuana. She flicked the lighter. Inhaled. Exhaled. Waited.
Inhaled. Exhaled. Waited.
Waited.
It was one-forty-five in the afternoon. The joint had been reduced to a roach, flicked to the pavement once it stated to burn her hand.
Two o’clock came and went. Silence, aside from the chatter of teenagers, some hundred feet away. For a moment, Sadie allowed her eyes to close, letting all the sounds in. The groan of an engine. The crunch of tires over the gravel. The slam of a car door. Boots, clicking against the sidewalk--
Sadie sat upright with a jolt, eyes wide.
There she was. She only caught a glimpse. But that was all she needed. Sadie pushed open the door of the Versa, nearly stumbling as she exited. She doubled back, reaching into the car to grab her wallet… taking in a sweet, deep breath inside the car.
“Calm the fuck down, Sadie,” she murmured to herself. One breath. Two. Three. She tightened her grip around her wallet and stood upright, slamming the door of the car shut before she turned on her heel, beginning to march toward the cafe.
“Well well, what have we here?” Aurora tsked, actually tsk tsk and held up her hand, those full lips parting as her low voice carried her words. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were stalking me, and well, we can’t have that, can we?”
Aurora, dressed much like she was the last time Sadie saw her, save that the HELL branded shirt was replaced by one of Miedo’s as Rey del HELL. She tapped her feet, the hiking boots thumping hard before she squinted those amazing green eyes at Sadie. “Let’s get out of the sun and you can tell me what you’re doing here, hmm?”
Sadie stared at Aurora for a few moments, unsure of what to say. Her hand tightened around her keys-- initially in case Aurora reached for her. But when Sadie decided in her head that would be (almost) absurd, she shifted her grip, considering back into the car and driving away. But how the fuck would that look? She had no choice. It was what she wanted after all, right? What else could her endgame have possibly been?
Before Sadie could utter a word, Aurora turned on her heel and made her way to the front door of the cafe. Sadie exhaled, shaking her head slightly, before she followed behind.
don’t go away
December 15, 2018
San Francisco, California
“Are you any good at wrapping presents?”
Janet Heim turned away from her Christmas tree, looking toward her guest with a brow raised in curiosity.
“Or are you one of those types that just gave up and bought gift bags every year?”
Sherry sneered before she sniffed and rolled her eyes. “Nah I know how, I can get a damn fine crease on the wrapping paper an’ make lil snowflakes and shit like that too. Gift bags are for suckers, or like… them throwaway gifts at a baby shower or somethin’.”
Janet chuckled under her breath a bit. Red hair pulled back into its usual ponytail, she wore what Sadie had described as “holy shit, that’s appropriate” pajamas that Anna had purchased for her a year prior-- a green, long-sleeved t-shirt bearing the grinning face of the Grinch and matching pants with various images of the Grinch stealing presents. Sherry’s own butterscotch brunette hair was pulled up in a high ponytail tonight, and she idly lifted the vaguely Christmas-themed pajama top shirt she had on to scratch her belly a second and fiddle one more time with the ribbon that tied the drawstring plaid pants in a way so they wouldn’t ride around her hips. Janet’s super adorable Corgi Rocky came tearing through then, Sherry lifting her foot so it didn’t get trampled as her and Sadie’s equally adorable Corgi was hot on Rocky’s heels.
She sighed. “Nelson knock it off!” Of course, anyone that knew Sherry would have thought that the Corgi was named after the Simpson’s character, but he was actually Lord Admiral Horatio Nelson because of course, Sherry thought that was hilarious. She turned her attention back to the wrapping paper when she was sure the Corgi’s weren’t going to tear something up, and glancing from time to time just in case.
“Wanna see something?” Janet asked, cutting through the silence.
It wasn’t as if Sherry had much choice. Janet turned away from the Christmas tree, sticking out her palm, delicately holding out a years-old ceramic ornament. It wasn’t overly complex, and the paint was chipping and fading from it, leaving splotches of tan and white where the red-and-blue otherwise would’ve been… but it was clearly, and comically, Spider-Man wearing a Santa hat. Janet laughed aloud, as if reading Sherry’s mind.
“Did she ever tell you that she was obsessed with Spider-Man as a little kid?” Janet laughed again, sighing. “She would whiiine and beg every year until I put it up on the tree with all the other proper ornaments. Eventually I just stopped fighting it.”
“Hah, nah she didn’t. It’s kinda neat you kept him though? Like, I wish…” Sherry paused, and then gave Janet a bit of a smile. “An’ you still put him on the tree to this day. Like he’s got himself a little home up on the tree and nobody can take it.”
Janet smiled softly, continuing to speak as she made her way back to the tree, reaching up to hang the chipped Spider-Man near the top. “How long have you been alone? Without a big family or something to spend Christmas with, I mean.”
The words were abrupt, but they weren’t sharp and cold like they would’ve been a month ago. The only sounds that filled the room for a few moments were the rattle of Nelson’s collar and the low chatter of the cast of Three’s Company coming from the wall-mounted television on the far side of the living room.
Sherry was quiet for a moment, and her mouth worked a little with no sound coming out, and then she swallowed and took a couple shallow breaths, her voice low. “I mean, since my Mom passed from cancer I guess. Dad didn’t want that responsibility and he was a mean drunk anyhow.” She paused, her eyes going to that tree and where Janet had hung the ornament. “Tried, you know? A couple times to make my own. Didn’t make good choices, I reckon.”
Her mouth tried for a grin, tried to be hard and sharp but ended up just not and she shook her head. “Made better choices now, promise you that.”
Janet took a step back from the tree, gazing up at it quietly for a moment, trying to decide whether or not it was leaning to one side. She turned her sights to Sherry a moment later, gesturing gently toward the cardboard box filled with ornaments just feet away, next to the spot Rocky and Nelson had designated their own for playing.
“Wanna help an old woman put some of these up?” Janet asked.
“Yeah I… yeah I kinda do. I’m pretty tall, bet I can help.” She wasn’t trying to mumble, but the words did come out pretty soft, especially for her. She moved to get one of the boxes with a very careful motion, trying not to jostle the contents as she moved to stand closer to Janet, setting it back down before she looked into the box. “They uhm… they all have places or just wherever it looks aight?”
“Wherever looks best.”
Janet’s eyes followed Sherry as she moved closer to the tree.
“Better choices now, hm?” Janet spoke softer now that Sherry stood closer. Janet held an ornament in her hand that looked like a silver-and-gold candy cane, idly balancing it on her index finger as she shot Sherry a sidelong look, silently deciding that Diamond had meant something deeper than just her choice in partners. “Let me ask you something…”
Sherry had picked out an ornament of her own to hang, possibly treating it a bit gingerly, something in the way she held it, hands cupped to make sure she didn’t drop it. Those dark eyes glanced over to Janet, and she took a little breath before she nodded. “Aight, ask.”
“My granddaughter isn’t ever in danger when she’s with you. Right?” Janet’s tone was one of curiosity, but her eyes were narrowed, focused with concern.
“I’d never. Wouldn’t take her nowhere that wasn’t safe on purpose. I mean, ya know what she does for a living and how they get rowdy, and all that. But nah. I’d never. Don’t think it’s cause I don’t think she’s not a… she’s strong, y’know? Capable. Smart too. That don’t mean she needs brought around elements and such. She’s better n’that.”
At the inflection on the word “elements”, Janet’s eyebrows arched just a bit, but whatever crossed her mind, she apparently kept to herself.
“And what about what you do for a living?” A small pause before Janet moved her hand into the box, fishing out another ornament-- this one a red-and-gold drummer-boy stylized as a bear. “Is that a long-term thing? I just have to ask the same questions I always ask her.” She caught Sherry’s reflection off the gold of the ornament. “It wouldn’t be fair to the other if something were to happen to one of you out there. The burden. The…” Janet trailed off, shaking her head. “I never understood these sports.”
“I never understood baseball so I guess everybody’s got somethin’.” She put her ornament up and looked at it a moment before moving it an inch to the right, and then picking up another. “What I’m doin’ now, it’s a lot more than the other. Got stricter rules, no extra fightin outside a booked event. No gettin’ jumped. They protect the fighters, make ‘em get checked. So if somethin’ happens, there’s help.”
She paused again, looking over at Janet and sort of scuffled her feet a couple times, and straightened her PJ top. “What I’m doin’, was to prove somethin big. That I could do stuff legit. Way things happened, when I was a kid, there’s lots worse people would have said I’d end up as. Or in jail, or being a waitress y’find out about on a Cold Case Files show.”
A nod from Janet. Not one to move the conversation-- but a legitimate, gentle nod of understanding.
“And do you feel like you proved that?” Janet asked.
“Y’know… no matter what gets said? Yeah. Yeah. I really think I did.”
Before the conversation could go further, the loft’s door knob rattled. After some mumbling on the other side and the sloppy fumbling of keys, the door opened. Steve Heim walked in first, exaggeratedly groaning as he leaned forward to drop the six shopping bags he hauled from the car.
“Jeeesus. We were supposed to get a couple of cards.” Out of breath, Stevie gestured to the bags. “I don’t even think we remembered the cards.”
Sadie was only a few seconds behind him, cradling a single bag to her chest as she nudged the door shut with her foot.
“Ew, Steve, don’t be dramatic,” Sadie muttered, placing her own bag-- one labeled “Yankee Candle” down next to Stevie’s. Her eyes drifted up toward the Christmas tree, smiling fondly as she observed the ornaments before she turned to Sherry and Janet, raising a brow in curiosity. “Ooh. Did you guys have bonding time?”
Sherry looked over at Sadie and she grinned, before she whistled very soft and low a familiar tune, a tune anyone that had ever watched Saturday Morning cartoons probably knew by heart, and she winked. “Y’all might say that.”
“Mhm. Think we all still have a little to learn a little about each other.” Janet turned toward the tree, but spoke to Sadie, looking back at the image of her granddaughter through the reflection in the gold of the bulb. “Don’t lose this one just yet.”
just don’t fake the way you feel
February 28, 2019
Tijuana, Mexico
Aurora’s voice, still low but nowhere near that once-signature breathy whisper. “You want a drink? Some food, before you tell me what brings you here? The Coliseo Inmortal is much, much further down the way, if you were looking to get a try-out.”
Sadie’s eyes traveled to every corner of the cafe. It was dimly lit, but it wasn’t like they had a choice-- there were only a handful of overhead lights throughout the entire building, which looked wider and emptier inside than she would’ve imagined outside. The brick bar doubled as a counter for the cashier, who was an elderly man wearing thick glasses and Sadie was certain he was asleep in his chair behind the register. Two other patrons-- boys, probably around eighteen-- sat at the far end of the bar, both of them huddled over a phone, chuckling at a video.
“The kitchen’s clean, I’ve seen it, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
Sadie’s eyes drifted back to Aurora. She felt her heart pounding faster but she didn’t know what to say. She had wanted this moment. Silently, she’d begged for this moment-- but now she had no idea what to say. She had tons of words before the Jeep pulled into the parking lot. But now? Nothing. She hadn’t spoken a word this entire time. She just stared at Aurora, frozen.
Aurora blinked, her hand going up to touch the piercings on her face as Sadie stared at her, as if to check that they weren’t crooked or something before her golden brows lifted and she barked a little laugh. “Come on now, don’t tell me you’re star-struck and want an autograph or something, I know better than that.”
Sadie looked down for a moment, biting her lip, silently thankful she hadn’t mentioned this to Dylan. Taking in a breath, she looked up at Aurora, speaking in a low tone.
“I…” She spoke a little louder, knowing full-well Aurora couldn’t hear her. “I came here looking for somebody. I just didn’t expect to see anyone here that I knew. Figured this was far from the popular stuff… kind of… the middle of nowhere…”
Sadie couldn’t tell if her hand was shaking. It was visible on the table but she didn’t want to look. She didn’t feel like it was. Probably was. She felt like she was wearing a confident face. But she definitely wasn’t. She looked like a child held at gunpoint and she couldn’t hide it. It was going well, basically.
“Somebody.” Aurora’s brows raised again at that, especially with what followed, but she let out a breath, resting her hands loosely on the table top. “I came looking for two people, and let me tell you, it’s been a real bitch.”
A waitress sauntered by and Aurora ordered a bottled water for herself and a can of cold soda for Sadie, unsure if she wanted it but figuring the sugar hit couldn’t hurt. “The problem is, you know that old stereotype about how easy it is to just vanish in Mexico? Like remember the Gecko Brothers in From Dusk til Dawn, they were headed down because anyone with money can pay for a whole new life.”
Obviously she had no way to know if Sadie had even heard of the movie, but the point was a pretty solid one. “Are you going to tell me who you’re looking for?” Point blank, as if her own restlessness about being here was bleeding over.
Sadie trapped her fingernails against the top of the can but she made no move to open it. Quietly, she tried to figure out how to proceed before she shook her head a little.
“Don’t know if it--” Sadie closed her eyes for a moment. Deep breath in. Out. She opened her eyes, still looking down at the can as she continued. “I can’t find Sherry. This is the last place I know she was.” It sounded so odd aloud. Felt odd to say it. She didn’t know how to say it without sounding matter-of-fact. She’d spent so much time thinking about it that it just came out that way now. No tears were attached to the words anymore. Just a dry, coldness.
“It’s maddening.” Aurora’s voice took on a quality that wasn’t remotely comforting, but was clear in intent. “My sister is quite striking. A beauty. Exotic. People remember her, and I’ve spoken to plenty here that have seen her. But nobody can tell me where she is now. Same with that son of a bitch she’s been seen with. Your Sherry, I remember her from a company my husband worked in. These are people that aren’t invisible. They’re not forgettable.”
She slammed a fist on the table, and while there were looks, it was nothing like what would have happened were this stateside. “They might as well be in the wind though, because I’ve paid people and there’s nothing. I’ve been told that this just happens. Mexico absorbs people and that’s that.”
Sadie didn’t expect the outburst. She looked at Aurora, eyes widening a bit. She cycled through emotions sitting there. At first there was this glimmer of hope when she realized that Aurora had frequented the area for the same reasons-- or similar ones. But her last snubbed it out.
“Mexico absorbs people.” Sadie had heard it before. Lani had said it. Adam had said it. For them, it was nonchalant. Throwaway. But there was a sense of finality hearing it come out of Aurora’s mouth.
It stung.
But then it clicked. Sadie’s mind traveled back to when Aurora had said--
“Your sister,” Sadie said quietly, barely above a whisper. “Cynthia…” She looked up, meeting Aurora’s eyes again. “Cynthia’s been with D--?”
The name got caught in her throat. Sadie cleared it. Coughed. Went on, quietly.
“Cynthia’s been with him?”
“Yes.” It was hissed out, and those big green eyes showed for an instant something that looked like… betrayal. “The last I saw her, in person, was at that big RAIDEN show, where he went up against Artemis.” That name held an inflection, too.
Sadie’s eyes drummed along the top of the can again, which still remained unopened. Someone else walked into the cafe. A middle-aged woman, pulling a four-or-five year old along by the hand, satchel clutched to her side in her other hand. Sadie’s gaze drifted back to Aurora. “But you think she’s around here somewhere?”
“I did.” Her breath hissed out in frustration, and her hand went up to rake through that pixie cut, messing up the edges for a minute before they fell back into place. “I know what he wants. He’s got the information I want about my sister. But he won’t tell me, just taunts me with it like I won’t kick the shit out of him.”
Though there was a look then, in those eyes that would tell volumes about what she really felt a raw fight between her and him would lead to.
Sadie caught it. When Aurora’s attention went back to her own water, she didn’t ask what the look meant. Didn’t ask Aurora to elaborate. Part of her may have been afraid to.
“And you have no idea where to find him.” Sadie said it softly, but it wasn’t clear if it was a question or a statement.
“Maybe in the states. Maybe at RAIDEN, or NEO, or HELL. But not here, or I’d have done it.” Her voice low, and she huffed, the frustration clear in her tone. “Stubborn ass son of a bitch.”
Sadie bit her tongue for a moment. On instinct, she’d been about to frustratedly tell Aurora that finding him in the States didn’t help. But it wasn’t Aurora’s problem. And Sadie was the one that had been creeping on her from a near-broken-down Versa just under fifteen minutes ago, so she’d more or less forfeited any right to snap at the woman that’d sat there in that cafe and been patient with her.
All the same, Sadie made a mental note of the places Aurora had listed. RAIDEN. NEO. HELL. More names. More places that she would go to with no endgame in sight-- with no idea what to do or say once she got there.
“Sorry for… this,” Sadie muttered. “For coming back here and basically following you.” She dropped her hand from the can, onto the table. “And sorry for what you’re going through with your sister. And…” She trailed off before the name came out of her mouth.
“You need to be more careful.” Aurora’s voice was back to being level. Not soft, but level. “You couldn’t know if I was… or anyone is.” She let that hang there, Sadie was grown and should know what happens to people who get caught spying, sometimes. “I understand desperate for answers, I do.”
For a moment Aurora just looked up at the ceiling of the cafe, as if she were going to remark on the fine stucco work or something, before she looked back down at Sadie. “There’s no way this doesn’t sound hypocritical. But when you go looking when you already know better, you’re going to get hurt.”
Aurora stood up, grabbing up that little backpack of hers. “Some lines don’t need crossed, and he’s jumping both feet in because he doesn’t care about…” she waved a hand. “Take a good look at the things he says to me, and ask yourself a few more questions.”
Sadie opened her mouth to respond, but as was the case with most things during the course of that conversation, she didn’t have the words. Better to just take it in and remember it. She nodded to Aurora.
“Yeah. I got it.” She looked down at the table for a few seconds before looking back up at the woman she’d followed. “Thank you.”
The two words could have meant a variety of things in this instance. And Sadie likely meant most of them.
For a moment as she walked away from the table it seemed like Aurora wouldn’t reply, but she paused, already looking to the door. “You’re welcome.”
And a moment later she was gone. Sadie sat there alone in the cafe, watching Aurora until her figure disappeared around the corner.
Fingers no longer shaking, Sadie pulled back the tab on the can in front of her.
my sweet baby, go to sleep.
ooc; gracias to mina for co-writing!